Chilling images have emerged of gun-toting fighters wearing symbols used by ISIS returning to the streets of the Middle East.

       The Daily Express has obtained photographs taken in Syria in recent weeks which show one of the distinctive black and white emblems used by the jihadis being brazenly displayed by armed groups.

       The photos seen have all been taken in northern Syria during and since the fall of President Assad, who was ousted on December 8.

       In one picture taken in the town of Idlib, in northwest Syria, an armed masked fighter wearing a badge used by ISIS can be seen staring at the camera.

       Another photo shows an unarmed man kneeling in front of combatants, one of whom is wearing the emblem associated with ISIS. In a further picture a soldier can be seen happily posing with his weapon with the symbol on his chest.

       Frightening accounts of beheadings and executions of civilians have also been reported sparking painful memories of the tactics used by the vile death cult.

       Syrian President Bashir al-Assad was toppled in December after decades of brutal rule over the Muslim nation, which is also home to Christians, Kurds and other ethnic groups.

       The new rulers of Syria are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist faction still listed by the UK and US as a terrorist group.

       Syria was a key stronghold of ISIS, it is where Britons David Haines and Alan Henning, as well as other Western hostages, were brutally murdered by the jihadists in 2014.

       ISIS were virtually wiped out by British, US and coalition forces, supported by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), by 2019.

       But around 10,000 male Islamic State fanatics, and thousands of women and children, including British jihadi bride Shamima Begum, are still guarded in camps by the SDF in the Kurdish controlled northeast of the country.

       Now speaking exclusively to the Daily Express representatives from the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Northeast Syria (AANES) have claimed those who escaped the allied victory over ISIS have reappeared in the ranks of the forces who removed Assad.

       Ilham Ahmed, Co-Chair of Foreign Relations Office for AANES, said: “During attacks on civilians they have committed heinous crimes, they have beheaded people.

       “They were carrying ISIS flags, they wore ISIS badges, we know that amongst the new Syrian national army and HTS (the new Syrian government) there are many ISIS fighters. We have seen them on our streets.”

       HTS, and their supporters Turkey, both claim northeastern Syria should no longer operate as an autonomous Kurdish-run part of the country. Turkish President Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdo？an is a fierce opponent of Kurdish separatist groups in his own country and has openly sanctioned attacks inside Syria on SDF forces. However, the presence of 2,000 US troops in northeast Syria does still afford the Kurds, who were allies against ISIS, some protection.

       In a speech last week, Donald Trump’s pick for US Secretary of State, Marc Rubio, told Congress it was “is in the national interest for the United States, if possible, to have a Syria that is no longer a playground for ISIS, that respects religious minorities” and “that protects the Kurds”.

       But it’s claimed the Kurds and SDF may want to highlight the re-emergence of ISIS as a bargaining chip to ensure US forces do not leave Syria, and Turkey’s foreign minister said recently his nation could take over policing of the ISIS prisons.

       However, a well-placed source in the Syrian capital Damascus backed Kurdish reports of Islamic State sympathetic elements within the new Syrian forces saying it was “true”.

       They told this newspaper: “I've seen HTS fighters with ISIS symbols and flags being flown from cars.

       “A lot of the different groups came under the flag of HTS to get rid of Assad, no doubt some are Islamic State to their core.”

       And Gonul Tol, the Director of The Turkish Program in the United States and author of “Erdo？an's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria’, said that “absolutely” there is a danger Islamic State is re-emerging during the ongoing power struggles in the Middle Eastern nation.

       She said: “It’s already been happening, that’s what American intelligence has been warning for many years. US Central Command (Centcom) has been saying, since Trump was elected, in anticipation of US troop withdrawal, they’ve been saying ‘no we cannot withdraw from Syria because ISIS is resurfacing’, that is a real concern.

       “Scholars who study this closely have been warning about this as well, I wouldn’t be surprised (if ISIS were back).”

       AANES representative Ms Ahmad added that the attacks from Turkey and HTS were also causing a huge refugee crisis in Syria with 100,000s of people displaced. The UK has seen a dramatic increase in Syrian nationals arriving on small boats crossing the Channel, last year around 12% of around 36,000 who made the perilous journey were from the Middle Eastern Nation.

       It’s not known if new emboldened Islamic State sympathisers could journey to the UK via illegal routes, but the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) has said: “Our priority remains to ensure the safety and security of the UK. We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect the UK from those who pose a threat to our security.”

       It added: “We are concerned by increased tensions in northern Syria and the impact this may have on civilians and stability in the region. We do not want to see Daesh (ISIS) taking advantage of any instability. We are monitoring the situation closely.”

       Ms Ahmad added that she believed Turkey would like to see ISIS fighters coming back to Syria and committing the crimes they did before.

       “This is ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish people” he said.

       The SDF have claimed Turkey is behind a series of recent airstrikes on Tishrin Dam in a Kurdish area of northern Syria, which it says have killed at least 13 people, and wounded many others.

       A spokesperson for the Turkish Embassy in London said the SDF were akin to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group viewed as a terrorist organisation in Turkey.

       They said: “It is the PKK-extension “SDF” escalating the situation around Tishreen Dam in the first place.

       “Moreover, it is due to the destabilising accumulation of terrorists hidden inside the vast network of tunnels in the vicinity areas.”

       An FCDO spokesperson added: “We been in close contact with both Türkiye and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since the start of this escalation.

       “We are urging all sides to refrain from activity that will lead to further loss of civilian life, or damage to civilian infrastructure, to avoid further destabilisation and civilian suffering in the region.”